


I'll Keep Her Safe

by Of_Princes_and_Savages



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Baby!Rose, Basically Nine talking to baby!Rose, Cute, Episode: s01e08 Father's Day, Gen, The plot bunny bit and would not let go, Wee bit angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 13:16:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7685977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/pseuds/Of_Princes_and_Savages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was a small baby, eyes still blue instead of the honeyed-brown they would darken to as she grew up. That was assuming this tiny rose still had a chance to bloom...</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Keep Her Safe

**Author's Note:**

> My first Doctor Who fic. Inspired by my favorite scene in "Father's Day" where the Doctor is minding baby Rose when our Rose comes to find him.
> 
> (Second favorite: Kid!Mickey imprinting on Rose like a chicken. :3)

Trapped in a church with the equivalent of time-bacteria devouring everyone in the world of 1987 outside, and a scared wedding party with two angry parents and two Rose Tyler's inside.

Not how the Doctor saw this day going, really.

Part of him was furious with his Rose for wrinkling time. Some part of him was saddened by the idea she only tagged along for that purpose. A larger part of him was scared stiff at the thought that the last of the Time Lords was gonna die in the same church as Jackie Tyler and her big 80s hair, despite his desperately trying to think of a way around it.

At least he got to tell Jackie off once and she obeyed. That was almost worth it. Almost.

And then a pink baby carrier was thrust at him.

"Would you please look after my daughter?" Jackie asked, and the Doctor wondered if his hearing was finally going after 900 years.

"I beg your pardon?" he blinked.

Jackie gave the carrier a little bounce, looking at him in all seriousness.

"Mickey, the little boy who keeps runnin' about," she said, indicating the small child no older than four or five dashing between the pews to wrap around the bride's legs through her skirt. "He's absolutely terrified an' I'm-I _was_ friends with his mum. I want to calm him down a bit, yeah? Besides...you seem like you know how to keep us safe. Will you keep my Rose safe, please?"

Well.

It wasn't like this day could get anymore backwards and sideways from normal, was it? Not unless his fifth incarnation came skipping down the aisle with celery in his lapel and a Slitheen bride on his arm.

Hmm...best not tempt fate that way.

"I'll guard her with my life," the Doctor promised, holding out his arms.

Jackie looked down at her daughter for a moment, something like love and something like sorrow in her blue eyes.

"Now you be a good girl for the nice man, Rose. I'll be back soon."

The baby squalled softly as she was passed between adults.

Jackie walked quickly towards Mickey, who darted away again to latch on to some or something else. So he'd always been an odd boy, and a tad stupid. Interesting...

A soft coo and a movement in his arms drew the Doctor's attention.

Rose wriggled a bit more in her carrier, then looked up at the Doctor as curiously as he gazed down at her. Sitting down on the railing nearby, at the opposite the altar and great stained glass mural at the front of the room, he took a few moments to study the infant that would grow into his companion.

She was a small baby, eyes still blue instead of the honeyed-brown they would darken to as she grew up. That was assuming she still had the chance...

A button nose and chubby cheeks, two fat little hands that seemed to be grabbing for him. Curiously Jackie had dressed her little one in purple, some sort of one piece with tiny snap-up buttons and a faux-fur trimmed hood the same color. Not that the Doctor thought much about it, of course, but he always envisioned Rose as a pink-and-yellow sort of girl.

Setting her carrier down in front of him as he sat sideways on the rail. Or was it a bench? It didn't matter, really, he supposed. It was old wood in and old church, (may its god bless England but she was full of old buildings,) and that made it ideal for protecting them. For now. The baby in the carrier didn't seem to realize what danger they were in.

Or maybe that was just brave Rose in there...

That thought made the Doctor smile, watching his future companion wriggle like a beetle on its back, grasping with useless little hands at the air and making wordless sounds. He figured Rose would be a chatty little thing when she started. Goodness knows she didn't stop talking once she got started, and such a sassy little thing too.

"You know," he said, leaning forward a bit. "You are going to be a very big handful for someone so small. But you probably know that already, don't you, Rose? Hmm? Yeah, I'll bet that cute little head of yours is just fillin' up with all sorts of thoughts. Good _and_ bad, eh?"

The little Rose responded by gurgling, and reaching up at him. The Doctor offered her his index finger, and a warm smile spread across his face as the soft, short fingers curled around his long rough one. A sure, snug grip. Somethings never changed with time, he supposed.

"Oh yes. I imagine as soon as you start walkin', you'll be in more trouble than you can climb out of. Yeah. An' then, after a few years, you'll probably start bossing little _Ricky_ around."

Chancing a look around, he leaned in much closer and lowered his voice to add, "He's sort of dim, even for a child. Not sure what you saw in him."

Rose giggled, kicking her feet in the carrier. The thought that she agreed was pleasing-odd, but pleasing,-and the Doctor poked at her plump belly.

"Now, as long as you're listenin', there's something we need to discuss, Rose Tyler," he said seriously. Well, as seriously as he could while trying to get a baby to look him in the eye and stop dribbling down her pudgy chin. "You should learn to trust me. Especially when I say to _not do_ _something_. Now I could forgive you for that stupid ape of a boy you talked me into taking aboard the TARDIS, because it wasn't your fault he was a _greedy_ , stupid ape. But this business of savin' your dad? I understand why you did it Rose, I really do, but you have to realize that everything happens for a reason. Or at least, has a reason for happenin', I s'pose."

His infant companion blinked.

"Now I don't expect you to understand that right now," the Doctor amended. "But you should realize that before you hop aboard my ship and head out into the universe. We've been to Cardiff an' back together, you an' me, Rose. If I had my way we'd have a great deal more travelin' to do before-"

On one of the closest windows, there was a loud screech and scraping noise, one of the monsters trying to claw inside.

"-this happened. So, it's best that you learn your lesson now: Follow the laws of time travel, especially, when I say not to do something. I mean the Romanovs had to be dethroned and die, Marie Antoinette had to be beheaded and die, the fifth king of Thorpox had to catch cold and die...it's not a pleasant reality, I know, but it's what has to happen. If it isn't allowed to happen, a paradox will. And when paradoxes happen-"

Either the screeching creature or the topic of conversation drew an unhappy whine from Rose and her little face crumpled. The Doctor reached out and gently took her fragile hand again, feeling it clasp on tight again and seeing the creases smooth out.

"I know, perhaps better than anyone in this church," he whispered, somehow locking eyes with the baby at last. "I _know_ the temptation of time-travel. I could try to go back and save my entire planet. My family. Did you know I once had children Rose, I don't think I ever told you that, but I did. And a granddaughter, too. Susan. You would have liked her. The pair of you would probably drive me bloody mad, two little Roses growing wild aboard my ship. Her Gallifreyian name meant 'rose', you know. I can't recall how many years it's been since I saw Susan, centuries I think. I don't think even she was saved from the destruction..."

Huffing a humorless laugh, the Doctor shook his head.

"I'll never know _why_ your mum thinks I can keep you safe. But, I'll always try Rose. You are...you are some kind of special, you know that? I prob'ly shouldn't tell you that, you're already overconfident, but it's true. You're a special young lady Rose Tyler. You'll grow up an' you'll run off with me an' we'll have amazin' adventures..."

_'And we'll die together here...'_

"...and I'll tell your infant self all about this mistake of yours, hoping you turn out a little wiser than before. Yeah?"

The baby blinked, twice. The Doctor couldn't tell if she squeezed his hand or if he imagined it, but then she let go and her focus drifted somewhere to the right.

"Now Rose," the Doctor tried again, leaning forwards. "Your not going to bring about the end of the world, are you?"

He'd lost her attention, it was focused off in the distance still. Leaning forward, hoping to regain her attention, the Doctor repeated himself. " _Are_ you?"

_Oh._

The baby Rose's still-blue eyes were on her adult self, standing near his side now. The fully grown Rose looked at the baby tucked into the carrier almost curiously fondly, those honey-brown eyes soft despite the lingering worry behind them. There was also a question; Probably something like, _'Why are you with her, being me, and how did my mother let this happen?'_

"Jackie gave her to me, to look after," he explained. Yeah. That sounded just as weird admitting as it felt when it happened. "How time's change."

"Better be careful," Rose said quietly, biting back something like a smile in her expression. "I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken."

_Hmm..._

Well. That was the first thing in this encounter to make sense.


End file.
